Amplifier is now off the Power Conditioner


Yesterday, I replaced the wall outlet that my audio system uses to eliminate the switch on the bottom plug. Until now my tube amplifier had been plugged into the amplifier plug on my power conditioner, but now it is connected to the second plug via a basic surge protector.

I have b read that power conditioners are restrictive for amplifiers, but my first impression tonight was "wow". I doubt the wall outlet made the difference and it is possible that it was a good audio night (sometimes things just sound better for no known reason) so I will have to remain open minded for now.

It seemed that things are more clear, almost edgy, and the bass tightened up.
mceljo

Showing 1 response by labtec

Any amp of decent power that sounds better plugged into a power conditioner should be sold ASAP.

That may be a slight bit of hyperbole, but ask any reputable amplifier designer if you should plug their product into a conditioner. The answer will be universally - NO! (In fact, one reputable designer already responded to this thread, so you don't have to take my word for it.)

Virtually everyone I've come across in this hobby who has tried it themselves comes to the same conclusion as the original poster in this thread.

There are some that do less harm than others, and there are some parallel devices like RPGC you could get away with using, but you're going to waste money gaining almost nothing.

Funny story...I had an argument on this topic with the designer of a power conditioner. We lived in the same town and I invited him to bring his $3.6k conditioner over, and we would test it. He was in the local audiophile group and they made a whole meeting around it. Others brought different power conditioners to try and guess what...

My system never sounded worse...In fact, one of them was choking my amps so bad that it was nearly unlistenable. Funniest thing is that they never stayed around long enough to hear my system with the amps plugged straight into the wall. They just packed up their 30-50lb conditioners and left. I'm sure some of them didn't want to admit being wrong, so they blamed my system for the poor audio instead of it being due to every single power conditioner.

Nevertheless, I knew what my system sounded like without conditioners on the amps, and the A/B testing on numerous conditioners gave me great confirmation of what every amp manufacturer says.